Get Unstuck. How to get out of Artist’s Block?

I am in artist block. Have you ever been there? This is quite embarrassing for me because I am the one who is supposed to encourage you about growing in creativity.

Part of my block is because I feel under pressure to get a new web site started with at least 10 pieces of work, pronto. The first painting I did was fairly good, not absolutely fantastic. The second one was not what I imagined at all. Actually it stunk. The criteria for these paintings was to use color schemes like complementary, analogous, primary and so forth. The second painting was with cool analogous colors and seemed boring. So, I added an orange so the colors wouldn’t get muddy over the yellow-green. Then I got more bold and used magenta to liven things up. This color has no yellow in it like the orange. My idea bombed and made a ‘do-do mud’ color. Horrified, I quickly scrubbed it off with water and gave up. I hid my work on the floor in the corner of the studio. and told myself that I will deal with it another day.

Sitting in bed at 10pm, I needed inspiration to “sleep on”, so I opened YouTube and searched for my creative inspiration person, Flora Boley. I love her work and she helps me get my head on straight. I went to bed with visions of paintings floating around in my head. By morning they were gone. Poof. Now, I keep a pad and pencil on my nightstand to write a quick word to trigger the image in the morning.

I guess you realize that being creative is not easy (maybe only for Flora) but it is a wonderful way to express who you are in a visual way. Like me, when artist’s block hits, I am telling you to not give up. It is usually because you have put expectations on yourself and you go into left brain analytic thinking, which is not where creativity lives. It is the right side of the brain that births your originality. This is the place of abstract thinking which enables you to think “out of the box”.

I have taught this over and over again to my students, so I know this stuff works. I just got trapped into “thinking” I had it figured out and forgot to just enjoy what I am doing at the moment and trust my inner self. Listen to me. Keep the critique for the end of the work, then refine it. Create to enjoy the process.

Thanks for stopping by in this blog. I sincerely want to help you enjoy creating whatever you do. Please share this with anyone who may benefit from my blogs. Happy creating.